Shake N Bake alternatives

To be honest, I can be quite a lazy cook when it comes to dinner. Partly it's because no matter how much time I spend on dinner, my husband devours it all, provided that it's completely cooked. Of course, one might think "I bet he won't eat food that tastes terrible", but during my first pregnancy, I could not tolerate the smell of meat, and thus Ken had to eat boiled chicken breast, or boiled pork chop (no seasonings whatsoever) for 9 months. And he did with no complaints!

Oh wow, I really went off topic there, didn't I?

Anyways, being a lazy cook, I rely on shake n bake a lot. Why not? Just throw the meat into a bag, place it on a pan and bake away! The other day, I wanted to make chicken nuggets for Cassie, chicken nuggets being quite high on her favourite food list. Of course, when I need my shake n bake packets, that is the time I run out.

In a panic, I googled alternatives to shake n bake, and came across bread crumbs. Did I have bread crumbs? Of course not. However, I always use cracker crumbs to replace bread crumbs, and there are always crackers around the house, as my two little critics live on crackers.

So, with a rolling pin and plastic bag, I crushed half a package of whole wheat crackers into crumbs, added a bit of salt, pepper, and basil. For proper coating, I should have dipped each chicken piece into a bowl with a beaten egg, then dip into my cracker mixture, but being the lazy person I am, I mixed my egg with my meat, and then dipped into my cracker mixture.

The result? No picture, because the girls ate them up. Ken honestly couldn't tell the difference in terms of taste, but I felt better because I felt the batter coating was much healthier.

So the next time you run out of shake n bake, try using bread crumbs, cracker crumbs, or even cereal crumbs!